Carabiner helps you hone your milling skills

[Christian] is learning to use the metal milling tools at what we assume is his local Hackerspace. We love this about the communal spaces, they provide so many opportunities to delve into new fields. He embarked on a voyage that included visits to most of the machinery in the shop as he build his own carabiner with a magnetic gate. He’s not going to be hanging off the side of a mountain from it. But his keys or a water bottle will find a happy home thanks to the device.

It all started with some sketches to establish the shape of the overall design. From there he spent some time modelling the frame of the carabiner in CAD. He’s lucky enough to have access to a water jet which took the SolidWorks files and cut out the aluminum frame for him. That left a part with very sharp edges, so he used a wood router with a carbide bit to round them over.

The next part is adding the gate. He used an end-mill to add a mounting area on the frame. The locking ring for the gate was textured using a knurling tool, and the rest is milled with a simple cutting tool. This gate uses a magnet to center itself, with the knurled ring as the only mechanical latching mechanism. [Christian] does a good job of demonstrating the completed carabiner in the clip after the break.

How sad that society has turned so lame that simple machining skills get listed on a hackers site.

And then woe to whoever points out the numerous design flaws in a device that is normally made to carry significant loads.

And when is it “hating” to point out a serious design flaw. You’re the type that would tell the Titanic designer “nice try” right?

Kudo’s for the guy learning a new skill, but lets get real, his “work” wouldn’t get much higher then a C+ in any high school shop class. Why pretend otherwise. Only a dweeb likes false praise. (So good job Buzzkill -you put me in my place).

@vonskippy You proferred nothing constructive. Then you returned to proselytize some hidden meaning in your comment that was to be preceived as contructive or positive. You made a snide comment denegrading the man’s work. Everyone else also perceived it as such. You could simply own it, or maybe offer up something of your own creation to indicate you are not just another troll.
My point of view of HAD is certainly different than others. I don’t really care how inane projects appear to some. Each and every one is a process and a journey for the person that created it. Some learn from success and others from failure. But something was still learned.

Understandably criticism, critique, etc are part of the process. But not everyone that gets posted to HAD submitted their own project. They are not always prepared to have their work shredded by a bunch of self righteous, bigoted a__holes.

The topic of pointless vitriol in the comments has been brought up on HAD many times. Some people get it. Others… not so much.

BTW.. the sinking of the Titanic was not an engineering problem. It was human error and arrogance that sank it, just like the Costa Concordia.

Same with me, or at least I used to … Anyway, his is really not any different than the ones found in the checkout lines at the grocery store. Anyone who is “…” enough to use these for climbing … well, let’s just say it is natural selection.

this isn’t a hack…this is WHACK! Hacks are taking other items to repurpose them into a desired use. This is taking an item and making it fairly useless and dangerous. It’s sort of like the people who put to male ends on an extension cord and thing they’ve come up with something clever when all they’ve done is create something terribly dangerous that should never be used.

First: he did not modify an existing carabiner, this is made from scratch.

Second: Light duty carabiners are useful for hanging many different items from a belt or loop on backpacks / other clothing or gear.

Third: He acknowledges that this thing is not for climbing or heavy loads. How is this any more dangerous than the $0.50 aluminum carabiners you can find in general stores?

This has a novel gate mechanism, was crafted to this mans desired specification, serves a purpose and is safe when used as intended. It may not be a hack in that it’s brand new construction not repurposing, but that doesn’t mean it is “Whack” or “unsafe”.

It’s dangerous because it looks like a real carabiner (size and shape). The cheap carabiners in general stores are not only tiny, but they have “Not for climbing” stamped on them, as well as maximum loading.

The reason this is getting critiqued is because it is a redesign of a carabiner that only reduces the functionality. Think of it as someone posting a redesigned arduino with 10% of the ram, a processor that is 10% as powerful, and its power handling components are fatally dangerous if used the way a normal arduino is.

The gate is innovative, but it isn’t as user friendly as existing solutions. Closing it seems to be akin to balancing an inverted pendulum, and if you miss and let go of the lock, it will lock itsself in the open position. It also doesn’t lend itsself to one handed use, without looking at it to align the gate. Try closing the gate in the dark, one handed, with it clipped on the back of your pack.

With standard carabiner you just let go and it closes and many designs automatically lock. They hold huge loads, and many are exquisitely light.

it’s amazing something as simple and obviously not used for climbing(or most likely anything other than: look at what I made!), is being attacked so hard.

It’s just getting worse and worse here, you can’t post anything with out someone doing a big lecture about safety. This is coming from a hacker website. No wonder kids can’t do any hands on chemistry in schools. If a guy making a metal carabiner gets attacked for safety by readers here, god knows what over protective parents think about their kids doing a bit of chemistry in highschool.

This seems to go both ways. Constructive criticism is often met with anger and offense. You can’t expect to have a project posted and *everyone* think it’s perfect. It just doesn’t work like that, and you sure don’t learn anything that way (except maybe some self-stroking of one’s own ego).

Ok so he didn’t modify it, he built it from scratch…then it’s no Hack….it’s a fabricated part.
Making something that appears to be something else but isn’t is simply dangerous. People arenotoriouss for using something they think is rated but isn’t. It’s simply auselesss anddangerouss post about a useless and dangerous object someone made.
Like I said…it’s a HACK alright.